On Magnetization Transfer and Balanced SSFP

Balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) suffers from a substantial signal loss in tissues due to magnetization transfer (MT). We will show that MT effects in bSSFP can be modulated by a modification of the sequence scheme. Optimized bSSFP protocol settings are derived that yield maximal sensitivity to MT while minimizing contribution from other impurities, such as off-resonances. Evaluation in human brain shows high correlation with commonly used gradient echo sequences. In summary, a novel method to generate and quantify MT from bSSFP image acquisitions is presented and factors that optimize and influence this contrast are discussed